JLG's Paylor favours registration scheme for bigger equipment

JLG’s Craig Paylor said he favours a registration and service history system for large equipment to help rental companies and fleet owners keep machines for longer and extract their full economic value.

Mr Paylor, who is president of JLG Industries and also vice president, construction at AEM (the US Association of Equipment Manufacturers), told International Rental News (IRN) magazine that a system to properly track equipment maintenance through the life of a machine would improve residual values and make it easier for rental companies to exploit the full lifecycle of the machine.

AEM's construction committee had been discussing such a system, said Mr Paylor, and several European manufacturers had also been contacted. Any registration scheme would have to be beneficial to equipment distributors as well, he said.

"The larger the equipment gets you get more of a consensus. Manufacturers quickly see the reason to do it", said Mr Paylor. He added that there would be environmental benefits as well; "I can't imagine anything ‘greener' than eliminating waste."

Mr Paylor believes that there is a lot to be said for the old rental model of keeping equipment for a long time and benefiting economically when the machine is fully depreciated towards the final years of its economic life.

Maintenance, and tracking of the service life of machines, is seen by JLG as being a key element to such a rental model. The company is currently launching its ClearSky telematics system for aerial platforms, which will allow owners and rental companies to track the use of equipment as well as remotely diagnose problems.

Mr Paylor said such systems becoming increasingly valuable as rental companies age their fleets - as they are currently doing - and as qualified mechanics become increasingly scarce.